Sunday night’s Oscar winners had plenty to say onstage (Best Actor champ Matthew McConaughey even snuck in an “Alright, alright, alright”), but there’s always more to express after winning the biggest award in film. That’s where the backstage press room comes in, and EW was there to collect all the best moments and bons mots you didn’t see on TV.

For some, holding a golden statuette put them in a playful mood, including Jared Leto (Best Supporting Actor for Dallas Buyers Club), who passed his new hardware around the press room so everyone could share in his victory, and Best Actress winner Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine), who joked that she was being auctioned off to the highest bidder in the room (“Only 86? I’m worth a little bit more than that!”). Others were reflective, including Best Supporting Actress winner Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave): “What I’ve learned from myself is I don’t have to be anybody else. Myself is good enough.”

Read on for more from behind the scenes:

Blue Jasmine actress Cate Blanchett on being the first Australian actor to win more than one Oscar: “Don’t you f—ing forget it! [Laughs] Look, roles like this don’t come along very often. It was a real synthesis for me of a long, deep connection I’ve had with theater and the intangible connection I’ve had to film. And I thank Woody Allen and the script that he wrote for providing the forum to make that happen.”

Matthew McConaughey (Best Actor) on getting Dallas Buyers Club made and the McTerm that best describes his re-emergence: “McConaissance? I don’t know what that is, but it sounds good. … It feels – I’m not gonna say surreal. I did not expect it. It’s the end of a journey with this film, this script that came across my desk four years ago. … The movie, the script, no one wanted to make it for 20 years. And then it came across my desk and we somehow got it made and got it across the line.”

12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen on his aerial reaction to winning Best Picture: “I’m as cool as a cucumber right now. [Laughs] You saw the jump, of course, everyone’s talking about the jump. … I’m just so ecstatic and so happy for us all. It’s one of those moments in life, and it might never happen again, and you’re living it and you’re there. It’s not a dream; it’s reality. Emotions, physicality just take over. You know, Van Halen, ‘Jump.’”

Jared Leto, offering up his Best Supporting Actor Oscar (Dallas Buyers Club) to the press: “Does anyone want to try it out for size? You can, if anybody wants to fondle. Pass it around. But if you have swine flu, please don’t touch it. I bet this is a first: The first person to ever give their Oscar away for an orgy with the media. … If you want to take a selfie, go for it.”

Lupita Nyong’o on her Best Supporting Actress win (12 Years a Slave): “It hasn’t sunk in. I’m holding this thing and it’s in my hands, but I haven’t wrapped my mind around it yet. You hear people wanting you to win and predicting you’ll win, but it’s just not real until you hear Christoph Waltz say your name. It’s perplexing. I’m so happy to be holding this golden man.”

Producer/star Brad Pitt on the importance of 12 Years a Slave winning Best Picture: “I love this movie. As a lover of film, the filmmaking, this story of a man in this inhumane situation. I love this film. I think it’s important, because it deals with our history. It’s important that we understand our history, not for any kind of guilt, but that we understand who we were, so we can better understand who we are now – and most importantly who we’re gonna be. At the end of the day, we just hope this film remains a gentle reminder that we’re all equal. We all want dignity and opportunity for our family. That’s everything.”

What did it mean to Gravity director Alfonso Cuaron to hold an Oscar in each hand on Sunday night? “Balance. [Laughs] It’s fantastic. What is fantastic of this evening is that it’s been a very long process. … I’m grateful to Gravity and the fact that some other members of the artistic team can celebrate, this is a joy.”

Does Spike Jonze think the world he created in Her, for which he won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar, will someday exist? “Anything is going to happen and everything is going to happen. We’re just at this point in history and we’re 13 billion years into this universe, and there are many more billion years ahead of us.”

Robert Lopez after joining the elite EGOT club with his Oscar-winning Frozen song “Let It Go,” adding to his previous Emmy, Grammy, and Tony: “It feels great. I don’t consider myself in that group. I’m a collaborator. [His wife and Frozen collaborator Kristen Anderson-Lopez presents him with a homemade EGOT necklace: “The girls and I made this, just in case this moment happened. It’s made out of pasta.”] Every award that I’ve ever been fortunate enough to win has been won in conjunction with amazing and talented collaborators, including my wife, who has been in the background of all of my work, even for every single show that she’s not received credit for, she was whispering in my ear the whole time. So I’m glad that she’s finally getting credit for being the amazing artist I’ve always known she is.”

12 Years a Slave writer John Ridley on being the second black person ever to win for Best Adapted Screenplay: “I think of my parents, who simply wouldn’t let me settle for second best, and made me take typing lessons – my mother’s a teacher and very big into education. And I think of Solomon [Northup], and a time when to write his memoir in some parts of the country was a death sentence, so to be able to stand here and adapt that work, and know that there are a lot of people who made this opportunity, I’m very proud, I’m very humbled, and I’m very hopeful for the future. I may only be the second, but I know there are so many people out there of so many different kinds and stripes and faiths and orientations who have stories to tell, and I’m so thankful to the Academy and to so many people in it who rewarded this story – not so much for me, but for people like Solomon.”

Dallas Buyers Club makeup artist Robin Mathews after saying she’ll sleep with her new Oscar: “When anyone asks me if I’m married or have children, I’ll say, ‘No, I have an Oscar.’”

The Best Animated Feature-winning Frozen team of Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, and Peter Del Vecho on life after Oscar: “Truthfully, what we’re doing next – we haven’t even finished opening the movie. We haven’t opened in Japan. So after that, we’re going on vacation. [Pause] We’re not going together on vacation.”

20 Feet From Stardom director Morgan Neville on the fame the film’s backup singers have found since the Best Documentary winner debuted: “I think we’re going to have to change the name of the film to ‘Stardom.’”